


Next Time Use the Doorbell

by Adm_Hawthorne



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Mon-El (Supergirl TV 2015) Bashing, supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 14:48:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13250484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adm_Hawthorne/pseuds/Adm_Hawthorne
Summary: After Kara's life seemingly blows up, she finds herself visiting Cat in D.C.





	Next Time Use the Doorbell

“It’s New Year’s Eve, Ms. Grant. Even  _you_  can and should be able to take a break for that.”

Cat pulled her glasses down enough to glare at the brightly colored superhero currently floating in through what she thought had been a locked window on the second floor of her D.C. Brownstone. “Hurry up and get inside, Supergirl. You’re letting all the warm air out.” She glanced back to her monitors, not bothering with warm welcomes. “I thought that window was locked.”

The young blonde awkwardly touched down in front Cat’s desk after pushing the window closed and fiddling with the lock for a moment. “I guess you forgot to lock I the last time you had it open?”

Cat snorted. “Three months ago? Hardly. Did you at least repair the damage?”

Supergirl glanced backward at the window and gave a little shrug. “Good as new?”

Again, Cat looked up over the tops of her glasses. “Let’s hope so.” With an overly heavy sigh, she closed the lid of her laptop and leaned back in her chair. “To what do I owe the pleasure this evening? I assume even  _you_  have some sort of party to go to or whatever it is you Millennials do for New Year’s. Hang out?”

“Well, I,” the younger woman awkwardly cleared her throat. “…yeah, I mean, yes, of course I do, but so do hundreds of other people tonight. It’s a dangerous time of the year, Ms. Grant, so I usually help my cousin and together we do extra patrols around the world to help with the worst of the issues that crop up due to New Year’s celebrations.”

The older woman huffed, reaching for the bourbon seated neatly next to her computer. “Of course you do.” Taking a contemplative sip, she eyed her surprise visitor with a critical eye. “So, are you going to tell me what brings you to the other side of the country to come see me via breaking and entering, or are we going to sit here until midnight and pretend to enjoy this stilted conversation?”

“Is it really breaking and entering if I fixed the damage? I mean, there’s no real breaking…” Supergirl trailed off, face starting to color slightly red.

“Semantics.” Cat motioned for the other woman to take a seat on the office’s sofa where she joined her a moment later. “You could’ve just rang the doorbell.”

“I didn’t want the Secret Service detail asking me why I was visiting you,” Supergirl admitted with a grimace.

“Well, that  _is_  interesting.” Cat sat her glass down on the side table and turned her body to completely face the younger blonde. “Should I be worried?”

“No, I just… It’s just that I think it might look suspicious if Supergirl was visiting the White House Press Secretary at 11:30 at night. I thought it might be better, more discreet, if I came in through the window.”

“Yes, I could see where that might cause some issues for some factions of the president’s constituency, but those are the same factions who don’t really care for me as the mouthpiece for the White House, so I doubt she’d care much if there happened to be controversy. Of course,” Cat added with just a hint of a smirk, “it would look far less suspicious if my former assistant were to come for a visit.”

Supergirl groaned at the implication. “Ms. Grant…”

“Kara, I have a top secret security clearance with an SCI. There is very little I no longer know, and what I don’t know is limited to about ten people. If you don’t think the very first thing I did after receiving my clearance was to crosscheck my instincts and confirm what I already knew about both you and your sister, then you clearly don’t know me at all.”

Kara released a long, heavy sigh as so leaned back and allowed her head to fall upon the back of the sofa. “I really should’ve realized that. I guess you know all about the DEO, then?”

“Yes, and I’m aware of the recent events surrounding it,” the older woman replied calmly as she picked her glass up to take another sip.

“Right, of course you are.” Kara sat up again and ran a hand through her hair as she considered her options. “I came here tonight because…” She grunted frustratedly. “Honestly, Ms. Grant, I’m not sure. I was truly doing patrols, but I saw your light on, and it’s been a so long since we’ve talked, and I miss our talks. You’ve always been so good at helping me work through things whenever everything started to feel like it was unraveling, and I just…”

“Feel unraveled?” Cat raised an eyebrow at the slow affirmative nod from the other woman. She finished her drink and replaced the glass on its coaster before she replied. “The DEO reports tell me that you had to shoot Mon-El into space before you could stop the invasion. I believe as a precautionary measure to protect him from being harmed?”

Kara nodded. “Yes. There was no other way.”

“And I understand that you quit your job at Catco, which we will return to shortly, but decided to return after Lena bought the company from me. Is that right?”

Again, the younger woman nodded. “Yes.”

“And now Mon-El is back and with a wife, no less?” Cat rolled her eyes. “That didn’t take long, did it?”

“Well, technically, he was away for seven years. Time travel is often complicated, and seven years is a long time,” Kara countered weakly.

Cat’s eyes rolled again, this time accompanied by a derisive snort. “Is it? I’ve literally gone without sex with another person for longer than it took that boy to find another skirt to chase, and it wasn’t because I’d lost my supposed true love to anything. I was just too busy working to bother with it.”

“Ms. Grant, it was seven…”

“Years. Yes, I read the reports.” The older woman brushed the argument off with a deft wave of her hand. “Kara, let me ask you something.” She leaned a bit forward, fully pulling in the other woman’s attention. “Do you really love him, or do you love the idea of what he  _could_  have been if he’d actually changed for himself?”

Kara shook her head. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve read the reports, and I’ve watched the videos of training sessions between the two of you. I’ve seen the DEO surveillance footage, and I know his history both before he arrived here and after he landed. I know how he treated you and some of the things he said. Nothing about any of that leads me to believe he had good intentions. What I see is someone who changed their pattern of behavior to impress the girl they wanted to bed.” Cat held her hand up to stave off the protest about to fly at her. “Kara, I’ve seen it a hundred times. People who change  _for_  another person don’t change at all. It’s a façade, a lie they perpetuate to get what they want. People who change  _for themselves_  because of some internal realization external of what anyone else may want them to do are the ones who actually change. If someone tells you they’re a better person because you’re around or because of you, if they’re only good or better when you’re present, and if they consistently demonstrate a pattern of behavior that indicate they don’t embrace what they claim they have, then can you honestly say they’ve changed or are truly on the way to changing?”

For a long time, Kara sat quietly and stared at the carpet as she honestly thought about what Cat had said while Cat simply sat and waited. With a deep breath, Kara finally answered quietly, begrudgingly, “No.”

“Well, then, I think you have your answer to most of your issues, then. Don’t you?” With a quick pat to the younger woman’s knee, Cat stood to take her glass back to the bar. “When you can find someone who changed in a positive way not because  _you_  made them a better person but because they wanted to be better based on inspiration  _from_  you, then I think you’re on the right road to finding Mr. Right. Until then, I hope Mon-whatever was at least a good lay.”

Kara quietly snorted.

“Well, that’s a shame,” Cat replied with a half-hearted sigh.

“What if,” Kara’s voice started shaky but slowly found strength, “it’s not Mr. Right I’m looking for?”

“Well, you should know I’m equal opportunity, Kara.” Cat spun around and leaned nonchalantly against the bar. “Mr. Right, Ms. Right, or Mx. Right. Whatever floats your boat so long as what’s floating it is actually supportive and not the anchor holding you in place.”

Kara stood, flipping her cape out and shaking her shoulders a little as she took a few steps toward the older woman. “You changed.”

Cat gave her a slow blink. “Well, I  _shifted_.”

“No,” Kara replied with a soft stubbornness coloring her voice. “You changed. You said so yourself. You’ve told me more than once that I inspired you.”

“Well, that’s true, but,” Cat shifted slightly, “I told you that so you’d understand how important you are to me and the rest of the world. Self-doubt in a superhero  _or_  a reporter is an undesirable trait.”

The younger woman narrowed her eyes. “Right.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a quick moment. “I have tomorrow off. Would you like to maybe have lunch?”

“Lunch with Supergirl, superhero to the world, or lunch with Kara Danvers, ace rookie reporter?” Cat raised her eyebrows in question.

Kara rolled her eyes but smiled. “Lunch with Kara Danvers, friend of Cat Grant’s, for now.”

“For now?” The older woman quirked an eyebrow. “Brazen.” She smirked. “Lucky for you I like brazen. Swing by around 11:30. I’ll let the Secret Service know to expect you.”

The younger woman’s smile widened. “I’ll be here.” She turned to make her way back to the window. “Will you lock this behind me?”

“As if I have a choice,” Cat replied with faux annoyance. “Next time,” she called quietly after the retreating form of the superhero, “use the doorbell.”


End file.
